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Members tie up loose ends

Andrew Thagard | Tuesday, April 20, 2004

Members of the Campus Life Council tied up loose ends during their final meeting of the semester on Monday, passing resolutions on the social awareness committee and RA training.CLC devoted the bulk of its time to continuing a debate started in August about ways to address schedule conflicts with RA training, particularly the MCAT. The RA training committee, led by Brian Agganis, proposed a resolution that would make the Saturday of the training period an in-hall session rather than an all-hall one and grant permission, at the discretion of the student’s rector, to skip the day in order to take the MCAT.Members, however, disagreed with various parts of the proposed resolution, and it was ultimately voted down. Charlie Ebersol, for example, said that he did not think the decision – an academic one – should lie with the rector. He also expressed concern that it could create inequalities between the dorms with some rectors allowing RAs to skip the day for the standardized test and others refusing.”I don’t think this is a rector decision, it’s an academic one,” Ebersol said.Father Paul Doyle, rector of Dillon Hall, said he doubted any rector would prohibit his or her students from taking the MCAT if the resolution was passed.”MCATs are a gimmie,” he said. “I don’t think there are rectors who wouldn’t allow that.”Other CLC members favored changing the wording of the resolution to account for other academic conflicts. Still others, however, expressed concern that such language could encourage students to purposefully schedule exams that day.”For the GRE you can take that [throughout the year],” said Heather Rakoczy, rector of Pangborn Hall.Some CLC members, including Cavanaugh senator Jordan Bongiovanni, said they were hesitant to rush passing a last minute resolution when the committee had a year to formulate one.”It didn’t seem like a priority this year,” Bongiovanni said.The resolution was ultimately defeated. Members, however, passed another resolution mandating the drafting of a letter by Jeremy Lao, CLC chairman, to Father Mark Poorman. The letter will update the vice president of Student Affairs on the work CLC has done, the views expressed during debates and ask him to consider keeping future MCAT days in mind when planning RA training.CLC members also unanimously passed, without debate, a resolution to continue the life of the social awareness committee.